Five biggest stories in Latin America in 2015

Javier Yanez stands on his balcony decorated with U.S. and Cuban flags in Old Havana, Cuba, on Dec. 19, 2014, two day after President Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro announced the Cold War foes would re-establish diplomatic relations.(Photo: AP)

MIAMI — If there was a common theme in Latin America in 2015, it was one of big changes.

Voters rebuked their leaders in Venezuela and Argentina. Prosecutors indicted a sitting president in Guatemala. Plummeting commodity prices slowed many economies. And peace drew near in the Southern Hemisphere's longest-running armed conflict.

The biggest change: Cuba's new relationship with the United States took root with a flurry of political, economic and cultural activity not seen since before the two countries brought the world to the brink of nuclear war during the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis.

"It was the most dramatic, positive change in the relationship between Washington and Latin America in a long time," said Brian Winter, vice president of policy at the Americas Society and Council of the Americas, a New York think tank.

Winter and other Latin American experts pointed to the decision by President Obama and Cuban President Raúl Castro to re-establish diplomatic relations after five decades of enmity as the most transformative development of the year.

Secretary of State John Kerry presided over the reopening of the U.S. Embassy in Havana and applauded the reopening of the Cuban Embassy in Washington. The two sides agreed to restart regular mail, long-distance phone service and commercial flights, and U.S. businesses started forging ties with Cuba.

Just as important is how the opening with Cuba removed the biggest negotiating obstacle between the U.S. and all other countries in the region. "It was the thing that prevented other conversations from happening," Winter said. "Now that elephant is gone."

Here's a look at other top events that shook Latin America in 2015:

1. Commodity prices plummet

Shoppers get their hands marked with a number to save their place in line to enter a private-sector grocery store in Caracas, Venezuela, on Feb. 21, 2015. Citizens line up outside supermarkets for hours to get their hands on the few items available because of the country's economic collapse.(Photo: Bloomberg)

When China was gobbling up metals and other commodities during the prior decade, South American countries were riding an economic boom that allowed populist government countries such as Brazil, Venezuela and Argentina to pass on many of the gains to lower-class citizens.

But commodity prices plummeted 14% from February to October, according to the International Monetary Fund. That contributed to shortages of basic items in Venezuela and economic slowdowns throughout the region.

"The end of the commodities boom exposed the distortions and the contradictions in the economic policies in some of these countries," said Frank Mora, director of the Center on Latin American and Caribbean Center at Miami-based Florida International University.

2. Voters turn on leftist leaders

Protesters rally against Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff in Sao Paulo, Brazil, on Oct. 19, 2015. Several opposition movements took to the streets of six Brazilian cities demanding impeachment proceedings against Rousseff.(Photo: EPA)

That economic collapse contributed to an anti-incumbent wave throughout South America.

In December elections, Venezuela's ruling socialist movement, founded by Hugo Chávez, lost control of the National Assembly for the first time since 1999. In Argentina, Mauricio Macri won the presidency, ending 12 years of rule by the left-wing Kirchner family. And Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff, dealing with a struggling economy and a growing corruption scandal, is facing impeachment proceedings.

While some have seen that wave as a signal of trouble for progressive policies in Latin America, Winter said voters aren't calling for an end to populist programs. "People have not decided that leftist rule is wrong, per se," he said. "They've decided that their current rulers are not getting the job done."

3. The new face of migration

A 1-year-old from El Salvador clings to his mother after she turned themselves in to U.S. Border Patrol agents on December 7, 2015, near Rio Grande City, Texas. They are part of a growing group of migrants to the U.S. who are fleeing gang violence in Central America.(Photo: Getty Images)

Mexicans, long the biggest drivers of legal and illegal immigration to the U.S., started heading back home in 2015. They were largely replaced by Central Americans fleeing gang violence, Cubans fleeing the communist government and others seeking safety, unlike Mexicans seeking better economic opportunities.

The shift appeared to catch the U.S. government off guard. The Obama administration is now facing lawsuits over its treatment of unaccompanied minors and mothers who overwhelmed the border and have been held in federal detention centers.

4. Standing up to corruption

Guatemala's former president Otto Perez Molina, photographed through a window, sits in court on Sept. 8, 2015, for a hearing on corruption charges. The president's arrest was part of a wave of anti-corruption actions taken throughout Latin America in 2015.(Photo: AP)

Corruption in Latin America is not new, but corrupt leaders facing consequences is.

Guatemalan President Otto Pérez Molina and several top officials were removed from power and indicted for their role in a corruption scheme. A corruption probe into Brazil's largest oil producer has led to the arrest of a billionaire, a senator and dozens of others. Similar investigations are underway from Honduras to Chile.

"I don't think we've ever seen in Latin America the independence of prosecutors and the judiciary to go after, investigate, prosecute and convict so many high-level people," said Shannon O'Neil, senior fellow for Latin America at the Council on Foreign Relations.

5. Peace possible in Colombia

Cuban President Raul Castro encourages Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos, left, to shake hands with Timoleon Jimenez, commander of the FARC rebel group, during peace negotiations in Havana on Sept. 23, 2015. The two sides are nearing a final agreement to end the four-decade-long armed conflict.(Photo: AP)

The Western Hemisphere's longest-running armed conflict was closer than ever to an official cease-fire. Colombian officials came to an agreement in September with the FARC rebel group over punishment for crimes committed during four decades of violence between the two sides. That has been the most difficult hurdle in negotiations, and could clear the way to a peace accord in 2016.